Penrose Family History

Cornish and Welsh: habitational name from any of the places called Penrose or Penrhos: twelve in Cornwall, one in Devon, several in Wales, and one in Herefordshire near the Welsh border.

The Cornwall and Devon placenames derive from Middle Cornish pen ros ‘hill's end’ (pen ‘head, top, end; promontory’, ros ‘promontory, hill spur’).

The Herefordshire and Wales placenames have the same meaning derived from the Welsh elements which correspond to Middle Cornish pen + ros.